Another Ending Continued
by anonymous3000
Summary: Not good with summary, but basically a teen name Akinari Ichiro comes in to the afterlife while Otonashi is still in the afterlife after everyone left.
1. Arriving to Afterlife

Note

Angel Beats disclaimer: I don't own angel beats or any part

Also this is my first Fanfic so try not to expect too much.

Lastly I may have used some of other people's ideas because I probably couldn't think of anything better or I haven't read your story.

I also have terrible grammar

I like to change things a lot and so there may be inconsistencies in the story. Please tell me if you do see some.

I have tried to put in some jokes and funny events. As I have said don't expect too much.

* * *

><p>'Where am I? I thought I died when the terrorists blew up the plane' I thought as I was picking myself up from the ground.<p>

Suddenly there was a large ringing of a bell and many students flooded out of a building. Not knowing what is going on, I decided to ask one of the students coming this way.

"Hello, you there, could you explain to me where I am?" I asked after I tapped him on his shoulder.

"This is a school of course and you better get ready for 3rd period, the break just ended." He replied and started walking away from me.

'WHAT? SCHOOL? Why am I in a school,' I thought.

I was going to ask the student again for more detail, but after I recovered myself after being shocked the he was already gone and all of the students seem to have gone to their classes already.

'I wonder what I should do.' I thought then suddenly

**BOOM**

Suddenly I heard an explosion nearby. So I ran there to see what in the world was going on. When I reached the place I hid behind a building and there seemed to be 2 groups of people fighting. They had guns, grenades and many other deadly weapons.

'Who are they and are they crazy to fight with such deadly weapons?' I thought.

Each side seemed to have about equal number of people on their side. One group of fighters had the same uniform as the other students I had met, but the other group had clothes that had completely different uniform as if they are from another school.

"Freeze!" someone said behind me.

I heard the hammer of the gun being pressed back and I tensed up and stood still.

"Now put your hands on your head and turn slowly" said someone behind me.

I turned very slowly in order to not get shot. When I turned I saw man with black hair that is about average height, wearing the same uniform as this school's pointing a gun at me.

"Now who are you? I haven't seen you around here." He said.

"My name is Akinari Ichiro and I just found myself here just few minutes ago and I came here when I heard an explosion." I explained.

"Is that so," He said

"Yes, now, could you explain to me what is going on around here? I just woke up here and I know that I am supposed to be dead. Also what is this school, who are the people that are fighting over there and what are they fighting ov-"

**BANG**


	2. The Student Council and SSS2

When I woke up I was in the infirmary with a big headache which subsided very quickly. Lying there I tried to reorganize the events that have happened in my mind.

'What happened to me and how did I get here. Oh yeah some guy shot me on my head.' I remembered. 'I need to get out of here as soon as possible.' I thought then suddenly the door to the infirmary opened. The one who opened it is a man that is a bit tall and had orange hair and the other person who came after him was the guy that shot me.

"Hello, there I see you are awake. I'm sorry for how Akiyoshi treated you when you just arrived here." He quickly greeted me. Then he pulled Akiyoshi out in the front and told him to apologize to me.

"Sorry for shooting at you." Said Akiyoshi

"Don't worry about it?" I said as my voice was filled with surprised and confused. Then I asked "Why did you shoot me?"

Akiyoshi said "Because I wanted to help out Otonashi as soon as possible and I was already in a bad mood so you're endless questioning began to irritate me."

"Well I guess it is bit my fault since I asked you to take care of many things this past week and you barely got any sleep, sorry Akiyoshi." Said the man apparently named Otonashi.

"It isn't your fault at all; it's that renegade group that calls itself SSS2. It's all their fault." said Akiyoshi

"No it is my fault and before we begin to digress off topic let me formally introduce ourselves. My name is Yuzuru Otonashi the student body president in the school and Ukita Akiyoshi is the vice student body president." Said Otonashi

"Let me introduce myself also my name is Akinari Ichiro." I said

"When you're ready and want more details about this school, then come to the student council room to meet with me about, it since I am always there. Also here is your allowance for the month and the school class schedule." Said Otonashi

"Thank you, and can we talk now about this school." I said

"Sure" said Otonashi. "Before you ask any further questions Akiyoshi take a break and this is an order so don't try to refuse."

"Okay, if that is what you want Otonashi." Replied Akiyoshi

After that Akiyoshi left the room.

"He respects you very highly doesn't he?" I said

Yes he does, although it wasn't always like this, but let's save that for later and let me explain that basically this school is for the teens that had either regretted something while living or here by accident. The latter tends to be very rare since I only know of 2 cases of this being happening since coming here. Most of the students here are NPC. They are just here to make the environment more school like to fill up space. They just follow school regulations and don't do much else. There are other people besides us in this school that have once live too. Also here, no matter how fatal the injury you receive you will be fine after few minutes and automatically revive yourself. I'm sure you learned that by firsthand experience and that even if you aren't able to die, the pain of the cause of death is still there. The main purpose for the existence of this school is to fulfill the regret the teens have felt while they were alive. I'm sure that you have some regret for you to be here." Said Otonashi

"Yeah, I wanted to save people during a disaster one day since many of my family members have been killed by a natural disaster. But one day as I was going up the elevator, it snapped, crashed to the ground and died." I said

"Sorry about that," Said Otonashi

"Don't worry about it. I didn't feel any pain at least," I said "Also who are the ones called the SSS2?" I asked

Otonashi's face fell and said

"SSS stands for Shinda Sekai Sensen (Afterlife Battlefront) and since they are the second to create it so they call themselves SSS 2nd generation or SSS2 for short. They got the idea when they found some document about the original SSS. SSS2 are people who had regrets in their life and are trying to make god pay for allowing their misfortune to happen. Although I keep telling them that the god isn't here and that they should just try to move on, but they are convinced that the god is either here or the way to reach god is here. They think of us, the student council, as a enemy because we help people move on and the people who move on disappear when they do. To them they moving on is as same as surrendering to god. ha ha ha."

After a chuckle Otonashi continued.

"Let me explain what I mean about disappearing. You move on when feel that you have gotten rid of your regret. When you move on, you disappear from this world, but I don't know what happens after that. There are some theories that you will be reborn as a human again, reincarnate in to some animal or insect or go up to heaven, but none of them have any proof of being the right one. Why don't we stop here for the day, I think you have had enough things to think about for now and I have some duties to complete. If you want to talk with me again you can find me at the student council room."

"Ah, thank you" I said

"You're welcome" replied Otonashi

Then he left the infirmary. I sat on the bed for a couple of minutes to absorb what I have been told and looked at the schedule and found out where to eat and decided to go to the cafeteria.

* * *

><p>'This is a very big school. I wonder how big this place is,' I thought.<p>

The sun was almost down by the time I reached the cafeteria. There was countless number of students waiting for their dinner. I used some of the allowance I received from Otonashi on some food tickets and got some noodles to eat. While I was eating there was a group of students that came close to me.

"So you are the new student in this school." Said a girl that is short with long brown hair

"I heard that you got shot by Akiyoshi. Is it true?" Said a girl that is about average height with purple short hair

Many others were beginning to question all around me until a guy with very muscular build told everyone to stop annoying me.

He said "Sorry about that they get very excited when there is a newcomer. Let me explain who everyone is. The girl that is short with long brown hair is Hiraga Jun, the girl that is about average height with purple short hair is Ienari Miya, the girl that is blond with a headband is Shiga Atsuko, the guy that looks kind of freaky with his wide eyes is Yanagita Saneatsu and my name is Kajiyama Shoichi. We, and Akiyoshi and Otonashi make up the student council.

"Ah, hello there." I said "My name is Akinari Ichiro."

"Nice to meet you, Akinari Ichiro." Said everyone

After the introduction I spent talking with the student council and got more familiar with them.

"Hey do you all have something that you regretted during while you were alive?" I said as I changed the direction of the topic.

"Yes all of us had regrets when we were alive, but thanks to Otonashi and our efforts, most of the people who come here gets over it and passes on. Even we are at somewhat at peace with our previous life, but we can't just leave Otonashi alone here even though he said he will be alright and we should just pass on, he did so much for us." answered Shoichi.

"Just out of curiosity how long have you guys been around here?" I asked

"All of us, except Otonashi, have arrived here within the last 3 years. No one knows how long Otonashi was here but we know it was longer than 10 years because one of the members of the student council that moved on about 2 years ago said that he arrived here around for 10 years ago and Otonashi was the one who had helped him be at peace. Just like us now, he decided to stay around here for Otonashi, but he eventually decided it was the time passed on." said Miya

"Is that so? Anyway where are Otonashi and Akiyoshi anyway? I haven't seen him here and I thought that he would eventually come here when you guys said that you were from the student council?" I said

"Right now there is so much to prepare for like the sports festival. So for now we won't be seeing him here for few days for dinner and Akiyoshi is bringing his food to him and helping him out." answered Jun.

Suddenly a group of students that wore school outfits, that were different from our own, passed by us.

"Hey isn't that the SSS2 why are they here? Aren't they supposed to be the bad guys here?" I asked

"Right now they aren't causing any trouble so we can't do anything. We can only act when they cause trouble. Anyway we should be getting back to our dorm it is almost lights out" answered Atsuko

After the good-byes we headed to our respective dorm room. The dorm room I received was an average room there was a desk with some books and a bed. I tried to go to sleep resting up for tomorrow. As I lay down on the bed I thought

'Maybe I should also join the student council too.'


	3. First Operation

Today would be the second day I am here in this school. I looked at my schedule and went to my classes. I was glad that there were some student council members, Ienari Miya and Kajiyama Shoichi, were here to explain the lessons that I have missed out.

"Hey what do you do in the student council?" I asked them during a short break.

"As you already know we help people like you to pass on by fulfilling the regret that they had when they were live and other normal duties around school. Why are you interested in joining us?" Miya asked.

"I am thinking about it. The reason why I am here is basically because I didn't get to help people." I said

"If that is so then this may be the perfect thing for you to get passed on. Whenever you feel like joining just come to the student council room." said Shoichi.

"Thanks" I said

The rest of the class went by normally; well it was boring having to listen to lectures by dull teachers for couple of hours.

* * *

><p>After the classes were over I headed out to the student council room with Miya and Shoichi. There were the rest of the 7 members of the student council except Saneatsu.<p>

"Hey Otonashi I decided to join the student council." I said

"I'm happy that you will but, please don't try to stay here like the rest of them. You were sent here to accomplish what you couldn't while you were alive and move on and not stay here. Don't be influenced by them and decide to stay here." said Otonashi as he handed me the form to join the student council.

"I'll try not to." I answered as I filled in the form. After I had filled it in I gave it to Otonashi and the rest of the student council congratulated me.

"Hey we have a new member after so long, we should have a party." suggested Miya.

"Yeah let's do that." Said Jun and everyone else had also agreed to it.

Suddenly the phone near Otonashi began ringing.

"Hello?" asked Otonashi "Ah, is you Saneatsu I'll put you on speaker."

Otonashi pressed a button on the phone and Saneatsu's voice came out.

"We have trouble. It seems that the SSS2 is going to use operation Fireworks." said the Saneatsu from the phone.

"Again! And they have already done a different operation yesterday!" groaned Jun

"What is going on?" I asked

"The SSS2 is going to bomb random areas. The bombs are given to random NCPs and after a set amount of time or is given great impact they will explode. They are doing this by thinking that if there are huge casualties of NPCs the god or his servant will come out to deal with it." Answered Jun.

"Bombs?" are they crazy and where do they get the stuff.

"It is easy to make thing in this world as long as you know how to duplicate it. We'll explain it more in detail later. Right now we need to stop the SSS2 from carrying out this idiotic plan," said Atsuki

"Isn't everyone going to come back alive, can't we just warn the students in the school and why don't they use guns. I thought that they had guns. Isn't it easier for them to just use guns?" I asked

"Yes, no, and no. First, yes everyone will back, but there are other humans like us in this school who are trying to achieve peace. I don't want their progress to peace be disrupted. So we must stop or try reducing the amount of destruction it at all cost. Second, telling the students may cause a panic that may cause the students to group up and accidentally being a bomb in to the cluster. Lastly we are here to defend the NPCs and other humans; if they used guns we can openly oppose them." Said Jun

"I understand the situation, I'll do my best to be of any help." I asked

"Let's get started." Said Jun as she picked up a gun and gave a gun to me. "Use this if you need to and try not to hit the NPCs in the cross fire. Just ask students if they have been given a random item or have seen someone distributing random items. If you do find it, use this device," she said as she passed out some hand held device. "This devise can detect traces of bombs so use the authority of the student council to confiscate the items and throw the items that have traces of bombs out the window as far away as possible, where there aren't any students."

"Okay I got it," I said as I was determined to do my best.

"Okay everyone" said Otonashi as a white projection screen came down behind him and the lights darken. When the projection machine projected the image to the screen I saw the layout of the school with different sections colored differently. "You will be going to your designated area to find the bombs and if you want Ichiro, you can stick with Shoichi to gain experience. Let's move out"

* * *

><p>Everyone went to different directions and Shoichi and I went to our own area. We asked for every NPC that went by us to see if they have been given any items recently or seen someone distributing items.<p>

The items we confiscated that had traces of bombs were toys, accessories, and other miscellaneous objects. Then I suddenly wondered something.

"Hey Shoichi, this is a school so where did the guns and explosives come from?" I asked

"You see, you can make almost anything with dirt in this world. By rubbing the dirt for few minutes to few hours, depending on how well you know about the object and how big or small the object is, you can pretty much almost make anything that you want that is inanimate," Said Shoichi

"I see, hey look Shoichi there is someone that is carrying a huge bag. Maybe he is one of the SSS2," I said

The suspect noticed us and started running, which could mean only one thing. We ran to chase him down he accidently let go of the bag while he was running. The bag exploded and the force of the explosion pushed us back a little and it caused the hall to have a big hole in the middle. Luckily the floor stopped crumbling down just before our feet. Right now we were at the 3rd floor, and there was a high chance that he fell in the hole because there were some traces of his clothing on the edges of the rubble.

"That was close one; we could have fallen in there. There seems to be a lot more explosives this time than usual." Said Shoichi as he remembered how many items we had to throw out of the window.

**BOOM**

"It seems like we missed some but it doesn't sound too bad." said Shoichi as there were couples of explosions coming from some areas in the school. "Let's go back to the student council room, the damages on the school should fix itself and the NCPs and humans that died should come back from the dead."

"Is that so, but I wish we could have completely avoided it," I said

"There are somethings that are not possible no matter how hard we try. All we can to is put in our best effort to help out," said Shoichi


	4. The Guild

At the student council room there was a strangely heavy atmosphere.

"We are going to have to do it aren't we" said Atsuko

"Yes, I think it's about time we do it. We pushed it aside long enough; everyone get ready for operation Guild Parachute Down." Said Otonashi

'Are we going to jump from a plane?' I thought. Since I'm afraid of height I should warn everyone about it. "Excuse me, but I'm not good with heights" I said

"Hahahahaha" laughed everyone

"Don't worry we are not going anywhere high or use a parachute, in fact just the opposite. We are going to go below the ground to infiltrate the SSS2 base to sabotage their weapon production plant, AKA the Guild." Said Otonashi

"Then why is it called operation Guild **Parachute **Down?" I asked

"It was coined by the original SSS. It sounds cool so I kept the name of the operation, even though the objective is different. The original objective of this operation was to refill the weapon supply by getting more weapons from the guild, but now as you know is an operation with the objective to sabotage the Guild to hinder their weapon producing rate. The funny thing is that I asked a similar response to that operation when I first carried that out," answered Otonashi.

"You sound as if you are a member of the SSS." I said

"Of course he does, he is from the original SSS." Answered Miya

"What? Really? Then why is he the student council president, the enemy of the SSS2, instead of being a member of the SSS2?" I asked as I looked disbelievingly at Otonashi

"There was a lot of things that led to this. Anyway before we go down further into the memory lane, lets discuss the plan for the operation. I think we should attack at 3 A.M., so everyone get to sleep early to wake up early for tomorrow. We will meet at you-know-where. Ichiro, you are staying out of this mission. Unlike today this is a really dangerous mission," Said Otonashi

"But I want to come with you and what dangers could there be. We can't die in this world." I said

"That is true, but if you are captured by the enemy somehow there could be some complications." Answered Akiyoshi

"I think we should let him go with us. With him we can cause more damage and he should be better experienced in the future for this operation." Said Atsuko

"Why don't we vote for it to decide whether or not we bring Ichiro?" Said Shoichi

So there was a vote to decide whether or not I should be allowed to participate in the operation. The result was no with 4 for no and 3 for yes.

"Damnit" I said

"Don't worry about it there is next time and by then you probably would have proven yourself that you are ready for this operation. Also it's time for dinner and I'm starving." said Jun as she was consoling me.

* * *

><p>At dinner I was beginning to be more curious about Otonashi and his past. So I decided to ask others if they know more about Otonashi.<p>

"Hey remember when you guys said that Otonashi was a member of the original SSS. How come he isn't the member of the SSS2 and what happen to the original SSS?" I asked.

"First of all he isn't a member of the SSS2 because the founder and Otonashi have different belief about this world. As you know Otonashi believes that this world is to help you relieve your regret before you reincarnate and go back to the living world and the founder of SSS2 believes that there is god and there is a way to meet him in this world. He plans on making god pay for the unreasonable deaths he causes. Original SSS also tried to find a way to make god pay for the unreasonable deaths but they all accepted their life and moved on except for Otonashi. He decided to stay here to help people like us who have regrets to move on." Said Akiyoshi

Suddenly there was a huge commotion at the meal line. I could pick up on some conversations or whispers floating around.

"Hey look it's the student council president."

"He looks great as always."

"I wonder how long he is going to wait for the person he is waiting for to comeback"

These were couple of the many whispers that I could pick up. Few minutes later Otonashi arrived at our table.

"Hey everyone." Said Otonashi

"Hey you're as popular as ever." Said Shoichi

"Of course he is you moron." Said Akiyoshi

"Who are you calling a moron?" said Shoichi

"You must really be stupid if you can't figure that out." Said Akiyoshi

"Do you want to take this outside?" asked Shoichi

"Of course not, we need to get rested for tomorrow and wasting my precious time to sleep to beat you is a stupid thing to do." Answered Akiyoshi

"That's it lets go." Said Shoichi

"Stop fighting. You two are supposed to be the model for the students in this school. Now apologize to each other." said Otonashi

"Fine" They both obeyed

"I'm sorry for calling you a moron." Said Akiyoshi

"I'm sorry for trying to fight you." Said Shoichi

"I swear that you two are somehow related to Hinata and Noai." Said Otonashi

"Who are they?" I asked

"They were former members of the original SSS." Replied Miya

"Is that so? Hey now that I think about it, Otonashi were you able to finish with the planning for the sports festival?" I asked

"I've just finished it. Now we just need to execute the plan for the sports festival, which is about a week from today." said Otonashi. "Also here is a welcome gift for you."

I received a box with a bow tied on the top from Otonashi. Inside it were uniforms.

"These uniforms are padded to increase your defenses from guns and other harmful stuff," said Otonashi

"Okay, thanks." I replied as expressed my gratitude.

After a few more conversations we went back to our dorm rooms early to get rested for tomorrow night.

* * *

><p>In the middle of the night I heard some noises out at the dorm hallway, so I decided to see who it was that was moving around in the middle of the night. Outside I saw Shoichi and Akiyoshi heading out. I wondered where they were going until I remembered about the operation. I brought the gun Jun gave me earlier and decided to silently follow them to see where they would go. After a few minutes of following I saw Miya, Jun and others joining up one by one with Shoichi and Akiyoshi. As they went out on the moonlight I saw that they were carrying a lot of weapons. I kept tailing them at a safe distance until they reached the gym. I looked out through the window of the gym to see that they were pulling out a cart full of chairs. Then they crawled underneath the gym stage floor. After waiting for few more minutes, they didn't come back out. So I went inside the gym.<p>

'I wonder where everyone went' I wondered.

I crawled underneath the stage and saw that there was a hatch open.

"What are you doing here? I thought that we decided to not let you participate in this operation" said the voice behind me

I was frightened by the sudden sound behind me and accidently hit my head on the stage.

"Owww." I complained

"Be quiet before someone notice and again why are you doing there." said the voice.

"Who are you?" I asked as I turned quickly and pulled out my gun from my pocket. I couldn't see the other person very well because of the darkness.

"It's me Saneatsu." Said the dark figure

Suddenly I noticed that Saneatsu wasn't there with the others when they went in here. I guess it is reasonable for me to forget about him since he doesn't stand out much and is very quiet most of the time.

"Oh, it's just you." I said as I let out a deep sigh.

"You haven't answered my question yet, why are you here?" he said in an annoyed voice.

"Ah, well you see, I was awakened by the sudden sound outside my dorm room and so I decided to have a look and saw Akiyoshi and Shoichi walking out of the dorm so I got curious and followed them." I answered as quickly as possible.

"Is that so? Then let go down already." He said

I was surprised by that sentence. "Eh, I can also come along with you? I thought that I was not allowed to participate" I said

"You are going to go there anyway so might as bring you with me. If I get in trouble I can blame it on Akiyoshi and Shoichi for their carelessness." He said

"Hahahaha" I laughed weakly as I went down the hatch with Saneatsu. As we went down I asked "Why weren't you with everyone?"

"I checked to see if the members of the SSS2 were sleeping and didn't notice our movement." He answered

We ran quickly to catch up with the rest of the group. On the way I saw various holes and objects in the way. It seems like they were traps of some kind determining by how sharp the objects were and the traces of blood.

'I hope that I don't fall for any of the traps.' I though, then I spotted the rest of the student council members. When I came closer to them I noticed that Jun was not moving at all. At even closer inspection it looked like she was dead.

"What are you doing here?" asked Akiyoshi

"Well you see the curiosity got the –"

"He tailed you here. Next time get out of the dorm more quietly" Said Saneatsu as he interrupted me

"Ugh, damn it, go back already. This is very dangerous or should I say painful." said Akiyoshi

"But I still want to go with you guys." I replied

"HAhhhh, I guess there is no choice is there. Just stick close to me and try not to activate any traps." Said Otonashi

With Otonashi's approval I went along. There were various different types of traps. Such as boulders coming down from nowhere, bottomless pit, explosives in the wall and so many other types of traps. Every time someone died one of us had to carry the dead until they regain their consciousness. Right now I'm sure that everyone has died at least twice in this last 30 minutes, except me and Otoanshi. Thanks to his really good reflexes and senses he was able to dodge the traps like nothing and even saving me the process.

"Thank Otonashi, if it weren't for you I would have died painful deaths a couple of times." I said as I expressed my gratitude.

"Don't worry about it, and don't step there. It's most likely a trap." He said

I stopped and jumped over the place that Otonashi have warned me about.

"Hey doesn't the SSS2 have any guards here to protect their guild in case we try to attack it."

"Don't worry we have our way of knowing when the guild is empty. Also if there happens to be guards, then we can easily over take them with our number and element of surprise."

"Won't the sound and vibration of the traps warn them?"

"If they are alerted, then Atsuko, who is standing guard, will tell us through the walkie–talkie."

We kept going for another 15 minutes until we were at some metal door with keypad. The metal door looked like it was able to absorb anything that we can through at it.

"Saneatsu , I'm depending on you to unlock it." Said Otonashi

"I'll be done in about 5 minutes." He replied

Saneatsu brought out a laptop from somewhere and hacked into the keyboard. After some letters and digits shown on the screen turned green the door opened. We went through the door and I was quiet surprised. There was a huge factory underneath the school.

"Okay everyone you know the drill. Ichiro you keep stick with me okay." Said Otonashi

"Alright" I replied

I followed around Otonashi as he set up some explosives.

"Hey Otonashi, is this really a good idea. I mean can't they just rebuild it and won't this make the SSS2 motivate stay here rather than leave." I asked on the way.

"A year ago I've tried to talk with them before they formed the SSS2, but every time I try to help them pass on, they resisted. They were very determined to rebel against god. One day they got the idea to kill the NPCs to make god come out. Of course they may get confused normal NPCs from humans. So I had to stop them from harming other innocent students here that are human from getting in the middle of the incident they are about to cause. So the rest student council and I fought them to stop them and that was how all this started," said Otonashi as he explained.

"I see," I said

"There," said Otonashi as he put the final bomb on to the factory. He then used a walkie-talkie to signal everyone to return to the entrance and get out. After we did he activated the bombs and the whole factory underneath burned down.

* * *

><p>Later we returned to the surface by the time the classes were about to start.<p>

"We did well today everyone. Now go to your individual classes to avoid suspicion. The SSS2 probably won't notice it for a day or two," said Otonashi. "In addition we forgot to have a welcome party for Ichiro. Let's begin the party after the lessons are over. I'll be decorating the council room for the party.


	5. The Angel I

Three day later

"Danmit they did it again" said one of the SSS2 member

"With this degree of damage I don't think we can mass produce weapons for quite a while." Said another

"What's done is done. We should get to work on rebuilding this place." Said the third member

The 9 members of the SSS2 visited a day before to get more ammunition but they discovered the guild in ruins.

"I can't believe I picked the short straw and have to stay here for couple of days to rebuild this place. I'm pretty sure that the draw is rigged and also I'm getting tired of rebuilding it over and over again after it is destroyed by the student council." Said the first member

"Then why don't you get obliterated. You won't have to do any work and we don't have to hear you constant complaints." Said the third member

"Ha ha, very funny." Said the first member

"Why don't you guys use the energy you use to fight each other to rebuild this place?" said the second member

"Yeah yeah I got it." Both of them replied.

As they were rebuilding the place the ground below them suddenly broke down and there was a giant hole in the middle of the ground. At the closer inspection one can see a giant black metal box in the hole.

"Hey, what do you think that is?" the second member asked

"Maybe it was left by the original SSS." Suggested the third member

"I'm going to take a look." Said the first member

"Be careful." Said the third

The first member went down the hole with a rope and looked around the black metal box. As he went around it he saw a button that said open.

"Hey I'm going to open the box get ready in case something happen." Said the first

The other two members at the top of the hole got their weapon ready.

"Here I go." Said the first as he pressed the open button

When the button was pressed a small part of the box moved up like a door. The first member got his gun ready and prepared to go in. But before he could step even one foot inside he was stabbed by a white blade.

"Ughhhh" moaned the first member as he went down.

Then a small figure came out of the box.

"F-FF-Fire" said the third

The remaining two members fired their weapon but they were blocked by the white blade. There weren't a lot of light so it was very difficult to see who the enemy was. But it was bright enough to determine the location of the enemy. The remaining two members kept firing their weapon until they ran out of ammo.

"Is that it?" said the small figure said and jump out from the deep hole. Before either of them could reply or comment they were instantly cut down by the white blade.

* * *

><p>It had been few days since the operation Guild Parachute Down. Nothing major happened for few days. I did some normal student council duties, such as passing out papers and getting things approved for the sports festival, which is scheduled to be opened in 2 days. Today, I went to the student council just like any other days after classes. I wondered what we were going to do today and suddenly...<p>

My thought process just stopped for a moment when I looked into the student council room through a very small window on the door. There was a female student inside the student council room with Otonashi. She was very so beautiful that I wondered if it was possible that she is a human. In there she and Otonashi seemed to be in a serious conversation. By placing my ear on the door I could eavesdrop on their conversation.

"How do I know that this isn't a trap?" asked Otonashi

"To prove that this isn't a trap we are willing to hand over most of our weapons until the truce ends." She said

"Fine, then bring the weapons to the classroom right next to use so we can confiscate it. Then we will be willing to help." Said Otonashi

"Agreed" she said then left the room

"Hey what's going on and who was she?" I asked Otonashi

"It seems that the SSS2 wants to have a temporary truce and she is the current leader of SSS2," replied Otonashi.

"She was?"

"Didn't you notice her uniform doesn't match with the regular students?"

"Ah, right." I said. It seems that I was too dazed by her beauty to notice it.

"Anyway why would they want to have a truce with us? Didn't they noticed that we blew up their guild not too long ago." I asked

"They do know that and they say that they will be revealing the reason for the truce later today at dinner," He said. "For now don't worry about it."

* * *

><p>At dinner there were all 9 members of the SSS2 and all 8 of us. Otonashi already explained what was happening when everyone came after me to the council room. On one side was the SSS2 and us on the other. Otonashi and the leader of SSS2, sat right across from each other.<p>

"So you're finally here Otonashi," said the leader.

"Well you did hand over you're weapons so it must be important," Otonashi answered

"It is. It seems that an angel is loose in this world," said the leader

"An angel? I thought I told you guys that there are no angels in this world and neither is there a way to meet god," Otonashi replied.

"There is an angel. 3 of my members were attacked by it. So we went after her in hopes to get some lead on finding god. However when we found her we had to retreat. She was much too powerful for us to handle ourselves. We were lucky enough to have escape from here in one piece. The angel has silver hair, short, have blades come out of her sleeves, obviously wings, and -"

"Is this what she looks like?" said Otonashi with excitement as he handed her the picture he took out of his pocket.

"How do you have a picture of an angel with you?" asked the leader

"We knew each other," said Otonashi with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"I see, but the eye color is wrong. The one I've seen had red eyes not yellow," the leader replied.

"That means-. Oh no this is bad. Tell me where did you find her?" Otonashi asked in a rush.

"She was in a black box under the guild. I think it was some trap that the former guild set up. Anyway, we found it after the floor crumbled and made a big hole. It seemed that the box have trapped her inside long ago. Out of curiosity one of the members opened it and she came out. So how bad is the situation" said the leader.

"This is really, really bad. We have to get weapons now," said Otonashi.

"Akiyoshi lead the SSS2 to the place we hid the weapons we confiscated from them," ordered Otonashi.

"But, is that a good idea Otonashi?" asked Akiyoshi

"We'll need every help we can get and we don't have much time," said Otonashi.

"Okay if you say so. Come with you if you want to get you're weapon," said Akiyoshi to the SSS2.

"I'll be here talking with Otonashi for a little longer. You guys follow him and get the weapons," said the Leader.

The rest of the SSS2 members got up and followed Akiyoshi.

"Wow, it must be bad that you are willing to return the weapons, but I don't think just by having us teaming together is going to be enough," said the leader.

"I know. We first need to slow her down," said Otonashi

"Then what should we do?" the leader asked.

"I'll take her on," said Otonashi.

"Are you stupid? Even all 9 of us couldn't take her down. How are you going to take her on?" the leader asked

"You'll see at the fight. Also when do you think that the "angel" is coming," I asked

"I think a day at most. It seems that the angel is lost within the guild, but with her speed she will find an exit soon." said the leader.

"Okay here is the plan. There will be constant look out for "angel". If the "angel" is spotted the gun fire will be used as a signal," said Otonashi

"Agreed," said the leader and she left to join with rest of her subordinates.


	6. The Angel II

The next day all of us skipped out of classes. There was a constant watch for this "angel" in shifts. During my shift, I looked at the picture that Otonashi have handed out to show us, how the "angel" looked like. I had to admit the "angel" did look pretty cute. Also I didn't see Otonashi all day after he handed out the picture. He locked himself up in the student council room saying that he was preparing for the fight. Later during the day when it was dinner time and the sun is almost setting, there was a gun shot. I rushed there as soon as possible to fight the "angel". After a short sprint I reached to the destination and saw that couple of the members of SSS2 was engaged in intense fight. I couldn't believe my eyes. There really was an "angel" exactly as the picture, but with red eyes. The "angel" seemed to have an invisible barrier that diverted all the bullets into different directions.

"Damnit, guns aren't working," said a member of SSS2.

"Keep firing, I'm sure that there is a limit of how much bullets-whaa," shouted the leader as she dodged by inches away from the "angel's" blades.

Then the rest of the SSS2 showed up and so did the student council. I joined them and fired my weapon in futility.

"Everyone, follow me and retreat, the plan is to buy some time as we can for Otonashi to complete his preparation," shouted the leader.

"Ehh? We are?" said SSS2 members in surprise.

"Yes, it was a last minute plan me and Otonashi agreed on," said the leader.

"But what is he going to do?" asked a member of SSS2.

"Truthfully I don't know," replied the leader.

"Then how can you trust him?" asked another member of SSS2.

"That guy might be an enemy, but he won't let others down, no matter who they are. He's a moron that will do anything to help, even if his enemies are the ones who are asking for help. Also he is the only one who knows what were dealing with," said the leader.

We kept attacking and retreating to buy time. We had to be careful to avoid getting the set up for the sports festival tomorrow. Occasionally people tripped as they were running, got tired out and just got unfortunate and got caught by the "angel" and got killed. As the situation dragged on the ammo supply was dropping fast and so was our number. We weren't going to last a much longer.

"How long is that guy going to take," said the leader and she headed straight for the angel.

On the way she pulled out a sword that she carries around and swung at the "angel", which was deflected by the "angel's" blade at her arms.

"It seems that Otoanshi was right about your barrier not being able to deflect sharp objects." Said the leader

The fight between the two seemed as if they were about equal, but that proved to be wrong when "angel" suddenly vanished and appeared behind the leader of SSS2. Thanks to her quick reaction time she was successfully dodged it and tried to counterattack, but the "angel" vanished again, just before the sword was about to hit and reappeared right beside the leader. This time with her body position there was no way for her to dodge the "angel's" attack. Suddenly a beam of orange light collided with the "angel" before she could make the hit. The impact caused a huge amount of dusts to be up lifted into the air and sent angel flying. When the dust subsided I saw another thing that I could not believe. The orange beam seemed to have been Otonashi.

"What happened?" asked the leader not understanding what just happened.

"Sorry for being late, and now leave this to me," said Otonashi casually as he walked towards the "angel". Right now he was wearing some orange uniform with SSS badge on the side instead of his normal school uniform.

"Hey is that the original SSS uniform," said one of the members of SSS2 and the SSS2 was having some conversation with themselves.

"So you are still here. I've thought that you would have left this world by now to seek the original.," said the "angel".

"Sorry, but I'm still here. Say out of curiosity, how are you still in here? I thought the absorb skill would have gotten rid of you guys?" said Otonashi

"Luckily I was trapped in one of your group's traps. Also your leader rushed program change which led to some bugs. So I was able to avoid being absorbed by the original," said the "Angel".

"Is that so? I don't know if I should be happy about this or not," said Otonashi.

"Is that so? Let me help you answer that question. **Hand Sonic Version 5**," said the "angel" and the blades on each her arms changed into some demonic looking claws. Then she charged right at Otonashi.

"**Hand Sonic Version 5**"said Otonashi and he also grew the same demonic looking claws from both arms.

The angel was moving at a speed barely visible to the naked eyes, but Otonashi was able to see it and block it with his claws. The impact was so strong that there were shock waves. The shock waves made us close our eyes to protect it from dust and wind. When we opened them again all we saw were blurs. They were moving too fast for us to see properly. I couldn't tell who was winning or anything. As the fight went on I began to doubt that they were both humans. There was couple of more occasional shock waves caused by Otonashi and the "angel", until they stopped fighting. The fight probably has lasted only for a minute or two, but it felt much longer than that. I could see the shocked faces of everyone that is here, except for the "angel" and Otonashi.

"What is going on? Is he also an angel?" asked one of the SSS2 members.

"Hey do you guys know how Otonashi is able to do all that?" I asked the other members of the student council.

"I don't know. This is the first time in two years that I have been here, seeing Otonashi use those abilities. Right now even I am beginning to believe that Otonashi is an angel," replied Akiyoshi.

"Why don't you give up? This is getting nowhere," said Otonashi.

"Right now you people are breaking about 4-5 school rules right now, it is my duty to reform you people to follow the rules. **Hand Sonic Version 1**," said the "angel" and the demonic claws turned into her original blades. Then she began to put her arms in the air and crossed her blades.

Otonashi quickly copied her and changed his demonic claws to blades and crossed the blades. Then he said, "Well aren't you strict as ever."

"**Guard Skill Howling**," They both recited.

After they said this there seemed to be some vibrations in the air originating from the point where each of their blades crossed. Each of their vibration cancelled out each other's. It went on for few seconds until the "angel" and Otonashi stopped at the same time.

"I see that you have copied my skills," she said.

"Yes, I thought that it would come in handy in the future, so I applied it to myself and learned how to use it, and I also created some skills of my own," said Otonashi.

"I see. Then it seems that there is no way for me to beat you," said the "angel".

"Yes, so are you giving up?" asked Otonashi.

"But there is something that gives me an edge at victory," said the "angel"

"What's that?" asked Otonashi

The angel suddenly ran towards Otonashi and attacked wildly for few seconds. Then she stopped, jumped back, and said "It is that you can't attack me."

There was a stunned look on Otonashi's face.

"Just now I attacked with a lot of intentional openings. There is no way that you didn't notice. You could have finished me off from this world, but you chose not to. You didn't even injure me to retrain my movements. Finally," said "angel" as she paused.

Then I saw the leader of SSS2 jumping behind "angel". I don't know when she sneaked behind, but she was about to stab the "angel" at the heart with her sword. In a blink of an eye Otonashi disappeared and reappeared in front of the "angel" and there was a lot of blood dripped down. The blood belonged to Otonashi. The "angel" stabbed him in the chest while Otonashi was protecting her from being stabbed through the heart by holding the sword that the leader of SSS2 was holding.

"Otonashi!" couple members of student council cried out.

"Wha, What do you think you're doing. We could have ended this," said the leader.

"He wouldn't let that happen. If I am killed I will disappear from this world for ever. He knows that, that's why he kill me," said the "angel" as she didn't even turn her head. "You probably could have won if it wasn't for your feelings for the original. I guess it doesn't matter that I say this to you now, since you are dead," said the "angel" to Otonashi and she made the sword that was in Otonashi disappear and started to walk towards us.

"What are you talking about, you haven't beaten me yet, and where are you going, I'm still alive," said Otonashi as he grabbed her arm.

"Wha, I stabbed you in the heart, you should have been killed instantly," asked the "angel" as she stopped heading towards us and trembled a bit. She looked at Otonashi and had a expression of realization and said. "Ah, right, I have your heart. I have completely forgotten that. Also since you have overdrive, your regeneration rate should have been increase and your sense of pain should have dulled by it. So it isn't likely for you to faint and die by blood loss like the first time you were stabbed through the chest."

"That's right," said Otonashi as he pulled her arm and put something on it.

"What are you," suddenly the blades on her arms disappeared. "What did you do?" asked the "angel" angrily.

"I've took away your powers. This bracelet disconnects you from the program, and as long as you wear it you can't use any power at all. I've tried to resolve this peacefully, but knowing your personality, it wasn't likely to happen, so I prepared this in case you won't back down," said Otonashi.

"Curse you," said the "angel" as she tried to pull away from him.

"Stop struggling; right now you don't have overdrive anymore so struggling is useless. At best you are just causing more pain at the wound I received from you," said Otonashi.

"What are you going to do with me," asked the "angel".

"I don't know. What should I do with you," said Otonashi as he went into a deep thought.

"Don't tell me you're going to have your way with me because the original is gone," said the "angel".

"What are you talking about?" said Otonashi with a puzzled expression.

"I know that you miss the original so I thought that you know…" replied the "angel".

"No! I would never do that!" cried out Otonashi

"But you slept on the original's chest," said the "angel".

"That was unintentional," Otonashi retaliated.

"There was also a time when you slept with her in the same room," said the "angel".

"Stop distorting the truth to make me out to be some pervert," cried Otonashi in anguish.

After Otonashi's and the "angel's" conversation, the leader of SSS2 and Otonashi agreed to talk things out tomorrow since all of us were too tired from running. Otonashi, who have fully recovered and somehow not tired at all, decided to go with the girls to show the "angel" her dorm room.


	7. The Angel III

The next day we met with the SSS2 at breakfast to talk about the details of yesterday's event.

"So let me get straight to the point. Are you two angels?" asked the leader as she was pointing at both Otonashi and the "angel". The "angel" was sitting right next to Otonashi.

"No, I told you that there is no angel in this world. I am a human just like you and others that are here. Well except for her, I don't know how to place her," said Otonashi as he pointed to the "angel".

"What do you mean? There are three choices of what she can be. She is either human, NPC or an angel."

"As I have said there are no angels here. If I was to place her I would be somewhere between human and NPC."

"What are you talking about how can she be a human and a NPC?"

"There is a way."

"Then tell me."

"No, if I were to answer you, than I will have to explain about the abilities you saw yesterday."

"That is the second thing I wanted to know. If you aren't angels and didn't get those abilities from god, then how did get those inhuman abilities?"

"I won't get into too much detail, but it is basically the same process which you guys make guns and other weapons. This ability is just a very advance version of it. Also the original purpose of the method to create the abilities that you have seen is to turn humans in to NPCs."

"Explain a bit more about it"

"Fine, I guess knowing this much is fine. As you know there have been rare cases in which people who had fulfilling life have come in to this world."

"Yes, and you told me that you are one of them."

"Yes, but do you remember when I have told you that there were two cases that I know of this happening?

"Yes, stop dragging on and tell me already."

"Okay I got it. You see there was someone before me that came in to this world that had come in to this world by accident. While he was in this world, he fell in love with someone. Unfortunately the person he had fallen in love with have moved on, or vanished. And so he decided to stay in this world to wait for her arrival in this world again. The chance of this happening isn't zero, just very low like trying to win a lottery ticket. He had waited and waited until he went mad. He created the basics of the abilities that you have seen us used to turn himself into an NPC to wait until she will arrive."

There was a long silence after Otonashi have explained the reason for the creation of the abilities.

"So the is she the person in this story?" asked the leader as she pointed toward the "angel".

"No, no, no, no, no. Her case is different."

"Ehh? Then how is she a mix of human and NPC?"

"She is a clone that was created by the original, when the original have used an ability called Harmonics, she was created. Let me show you. **Guard Skills Harmonics Version 2**"

Then an exact copy of Otonashi formed behind him.

"As you can see by using this skill I can create a clone of myself. But unlike version 2 I used just now the original used version 1 of the Harmonics skill. The version 1 has the problem of clones having its own minds. If they are absorbed they can take over the mind of the original. So to eliminate that problem the version 2 gives the clones only basic functions. The downside to that modification is the fact that the clones of the version 2 can't adapt while the clones of version 1 can."

After Otonashi's explanation the clone disappeared.

"So if what you're saying is true then the "angel" is a clone just like the one you made."

"Yes"

"So I guess we can't keep calling her "angel" anymore since we know that she isn't one. What should we call her then?"

"Why don't we call her Tachibana since that was the original's name?"

"Then let's do that. I guess we are going back to our original relationship then."

"I guess, although I wish that you guys will stop hunting for god and try to find peace in this world as you are meant to."

"There is no way that we will. We will hunt down god and make him pay for the unfortunate lives he had given us. Let's go everyone."

After that the SSS2 left the cafeteria. Before Otonashi could get up everyone from the student council started to gather towards Otonashi.

"Hey Otonashi why did you hide the fact that you could do all that from us," Shoichi asked

"Isn't it obvious? If someone was to find out how to do all those things Otonashi and Tachibana just did, it would be very difficult to maintain peace in this school," said Akiyoshi.

Then everyone nodded in understanding.

"That aside, what was your relationship with the original Tachibana?" asked Jun.

"What are yo-,"

"My guess is that they were more than friends from seeing Otonashi's reactions and actions during the fight," said Shoichi.

"So tell us already, how close your relationship was with the original Tachibana," said Miya excitedly.

"It's none of your-"

"He was in love with her," said Tachibana.

After that everyone started to gather around Tachibana and was about to ask various questions about the relationship between the original Tachibana and Otonashi. Until Otonashi stopped them by shouting, "Don't we have duties as student council to oversee the sports festival today?"

"Ugh, that is true," said Jun

"I guess we are going to have to ask later," said Miya.


	8. The Forest I

Few days pasted after the sports festival, at the festival there was couple of crazy incidents that I don't wish to experience again. There hasn't been much going on for a while after Tachibana attacked us. In fact I haven't seen Tachibana for a while. Also right now there haven't been any attacks from the SSS2; I guess they are still rebuilding the guild since they rarely show themselves around the school. Days like this are the days that I wish something would happen instead of constantly listening to teacher's lectures and studying. But one morning…

"Hello, excuse me, but where am I?" asked a random student. I guess she just came into this world.

"Did you just arrive here?"

"I don't know. I can't remember anything."

"Can you remember anything?"

"No, I can't even remember my name."

"Come with me I think I can help you."

"Okay"

I went to the student council to seek help. When I reached there, Otonashi was the only person in the room.

"Hey Otonashi, where is everyone?"

"They should be in their class, what brings you here."

"Ah right, I can't believe I forgot that. Hey then, shouldn't you be in class?"

"I have been here long enough to know everything teachers here are going to teach."

"Really? Anyway this girl seemed to have lost all her memories, can we do anything for her?" I asked as I indicated to the girl next to me.

"So you lost your memories. I think I can help you regain some your memories but the memories that you remember are probably going to be very sad for you. So I think you should mentally prepare yourself before I begin."

After a few minutes the girl replied.

"I think I'm ready now."

"Okay, sit down right there and I will begin." He said as he pointed to the chair that was right across him.

The girl left my side and sat right across Otonashi.

"Now look in to my eyes."

Suddenly his eyes turned red.

"You will now remember everything that had happened before you have come into this world."

The girl than quickly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"What just happened?"

"I just hypnotized her to her to regain her memories."

"You can do that?"

"It's something I have learned from someone."

"How long have you been here? It's like you know everything."

"Well, I have been here helping people move on for long time. So I am prepared for almost anything. Now why don't you get to class it probably will take all day for her to remember some if not all of her memories."

Otonashi gave me a pass to explain why I was late. At the class I explained what happened to Shoichi and Miya during break.

"Oh so that's why you were absent in the moring," said Miya.

"I can't believe that that girl have lost all her memories," I said.

"That happens quite often here. When people die they may receive huge shock to their head and lose their memory. There can be other reasons but that usually happens to be the case," said Shoichi.

"I guess I'm lucky to have retained my memories," I commented.

"I guess so, but there are some people who have memories that better off not remembering. You could say that you were lucky to have lived not so bad of a life compared to the people who did have those kinds of life," said Miya.

"That's true. Do you know of some people that had those kinds of memories," I asked.

"I don't know any such memories, do you know anything Shoichi?" asked Miya.

"I also don't know of anyone having those memories. I guess we should be happy that there hasn't been anyone who had those kinds of life for a while," said Shoichi.

"But if you really want to know you could ask Otonashi. He has been here since almost forever," said Miya.

Then the bell rang and the class started again. After the lessons were over we immediately headed toward the student council room to check up.

"Hey Otonashi did she wake up yet," I asked Otonashi who was at the same chair he had sat on in the moring. It seems that he have been working on some student council duties.

"Not yet, but she should be done soon. Ah, look she just woke up," said Otonashi.

As he had said, that we turned around to see her waking up.

"Do you remember everything?" asked Otonashi.

"Ye-yes, she replied.

"So do you remember what you have regretted while you were alive?"

"How did you know that?"

"Let me explain about this world," said Otonashi and he began to explain about this world and it took quite a long time. While he was explaining I noticed Akiyoshi, Jun and Saneatsu joined us out of nowhere.

"I see. Then I am really dead."

"Yes, and as I have said before this world is to help people like you to have a fulfilling youth or teen life. If you have an idea what you need to do to be in peace tell me or any of us in the student council and we will try to help you fulfill it."

"Thank you for the offer. You guys are like the angels in this world, helping out even though you guys have your own regrets to satisfy."

At this comment Otonashi had a sad smile for an instant.

"Don't worry most of us are already at peace with our past. We are just sticking around a little longer to help people like you," replied Akiyoshi.

"Then there is something that I wanted to do while I was alive that I didn't get to do," she replied

"What's that?" I asked.

"That is to have an adventure in the wilderness," she said.

"Huh?" everyone asked.

"You see I was always in a very developed city. So I never got to see open nature. I read about them in books and saw them on movies and pictures. I was very fascinated by it. Later I decided to grow up and be an environmentalist. But before that I got to see open nature. I died out of some rare disease that is almost impossible to get."

"Forest huh. I haven't been there for a while. Why don't we go tomorrow," said Otonashi.

"Don't we have to prepare first?" I asked.

"Don't worry I have all the supplies somewhere for camping."

"What about the classes."

"I can use my authority to let you guys skip classes. Don't worry I will take care of everything, all you guys need to do is to show up tomorrow around 6 A.M. We are going to leave early in the morning."


	9. The Forest II

Next day we met up at the field for camping. Right now Otonashi was the only one who is not here yet. Suddenly for some reason Tachibana came here.

"What are you doing here Tachibana?" I asked

"That pervert invited me here," she replied.

"Otonashi did?"

"Yes, he came up to me, told me how fun it was going to be, and forced me to take participation."

"How did he force you?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Hey I'm here everyone," shouted Otonashi from a distance from us. He was carrying a wagon full of supplies.

"Ah, you're finally here," said Shoichi.

"Yeah, it took me a while to gather the supplies. Oh Tachibana, it seems that you have decided to accept my invitation."

"It wasn't like I had any choice. Also for a student council president, you break a lot of rules. I'm sure you know that going into the forest is a violation of the school rule."

"Ha ha ha ha, don't worry, I'm sure nothing is going to happen and its human nature to break some rules. Anyway let's go in to the forest."

We went through the school gate and started to go out into the forest. There was a small trail that we could take to get into the forest.

"Ah, now that I think about it we don't even know your name," I said to the new girl as we were walking right next to her.

"Oh, my name is Nakazawa Sanako"

"So that's your name. Let me reintroduce everyone just in case you had forgotten," I said as I pointed and repeated the names of everyone that was here and some basic information about them.

"Wait, if Tachibana isn't part of the student council why was she invited to come along?"

"You see Tachibana seems to be a clone of the original Tachibana that came here into the afterlife."

"She is a clone? Such a thing exists here?"

"Yes, somehow Otonashi and the original Tachibana have the ability to create clones and various other supernatural skills, but right now Otonashi seemed to have locked away Tachibana's abilities."

"What kinds of abilities are there."

"Some of them that I have seen are creating clones, emitting high pitch sound waves, having superhuman strength, distorting space, and creating weapons out of their sleeves. You should have seen them fight against each other few days ago, it was something that I probably will never forget."

"It sounds amazing. I wish I was there to have seen it."

"I don't know about that."

"Hey are you hitting on the new girl," Atsuko asked me

"Of course not! I'm just having a conversation with her since it seems like a long way until we reach our destination."

"What were you guys talking about?"

"Just about Otonashi and Tachibana and what happened few days ago."

"Did you know that the original Tachibana stabbed through Otonashi's chest when they first met each other."

"How do you know that?"

"I have the same class as her. At first I was pretty shocked that I am going to have someone as scary as her in my class. But later we became acquaintances.

"But how is she scary, her abilities are sealed."

"Yes, but you never know when the seal may get broken. Also she is incredibly annoying. She points out every school rule that I violate."

"But shouldn't you follow the school rule, since you are a member of the student council member?" Sanako joined in.

"That is true however, she corrects me on rules that are so ancient that, even the NPCs don't follow some of these rules. Anyway because of this somehow or another, I was able to get somewhat acquainted with her and I have learned more about Otonashi and his past."

"What's this about you knowing more about Otonashi?" asked Akiyoshi as he joined in to the conversation.

"It seems that Tachibana and Atsuko are acquaintances. and Atsuko here seemed to have learned more about Otonashi from her." I replied.

"Tell me everything I you know about Otonashi," Akiyoshi demanded to Atsuko.

"Fine Fine, I will tell you so keep your head on your shoulder. As I have said, the original Tachibana have stabbed though Otonashi chest the first time they met with her ability called handsonic, which is an ability that creates the blade from the sleeve."

"Why did she stabbed him?" asked Akiyoshi.

"It seems that Otonashi had lost all his memory prior to coming here like, what your name?" asked Atsuko as she pointed to Sanako.

"It's Sanako"

"Yes, just like Sanako here, he had lost his memory. So he asked the original Tachibana to prove that he couldn't die in this world and she stabbed him.

"Isn't that a bit harsh. Couldn't she have found a better way to convince him that he couldn't die here? By stabbing through the chest you would die and by reviving it would prove that you can't die, but you would feel agonizing pain of being stabbed," I remarked.

"I guess this is one of the thing that we should be grateful about."

"What do you mean?"

"Tachibana said that the original was inept. To her asking whether or not you could die or not is the the same thing as asking where is the classroom. Unlike Otonashi, who is more skillful with talking with other people when they just arrive here. If the original had still stuck around we probably would have been stabbed the first time we came here."

"Yeah, I would consider that as a blessing."

"That is interesting, but do you know more?" asked Akiyoshi.

"There is one more thing that I do know of," answered Atsuko as she paused.

"Stop dragging on by making us ask and tell us already," said Akiyoshi.

"Fine, geez, you won't let me have some fun of dragging things on a little. Another thing that I have found out was that he original Tachibana's regret was not being able to thank Otonashi. It seems that he had donated his heart to her and extended her life."

"So that's what she mean when she stabbed him through his heart."

"Yes, by donating his heart, Otonashi doesn't have a heart and Tachibana have his heart."

After that we had couple of small talks until Otonashi cried out, "Hey, we reached the destination."


	10. The Forest III

We arrived at a place where there was a little clearing. Right now the sun is directly above us. Here in the clearing we set up the tents Otonashi have brought on his wagon.

"Okay Sanako what should we do first, now that we are here," asked Otonashi as he turned to face her.

"ZZZ"

"Wha- When did she fall a sleep?"

"Few minutes ago while we were setting up the tents. She told me that she wanted to take a break and then she eventually went to sleep," said Akiyoshi.

"And she is the main reason why we are here," said Saneatsu.

"Should we wake her up?" I asked.

"I think we should let her be," said Otonashi and everyone agreed. Otonashi and Atsuki went to prepare for dinner since they are the only ones that could cook. The rest of us just explored a little since it was the first time everyone, except Otonashi, have come in to the forest. By the time she woke up it was already sun down and we were almost ready to eat dinner.

"Hey, you finally woke up," Jun said to Sanako

"Huh? When did I fall asleep."

"While you were taking a break."

"Ah, sorry, I have very weak stamina. Walking on this rough terrain for couple of hours wore me out."

"But we took breaks very frequently."

"Living in the city made me get too used to having trains or cars to go places instead of walking."

"Well it's already sun down. I guess we have to push back the schedule a little and do some activities tomorrow."

"I'm sorry about this and it was me who have asked for this too."

"Don't worry about it its not like you can do anything about it. Anyway Otonashi and Atsuko have finished making dinner let's go and eat."

At dinner there were various dishes that Otonashi and Atsuko had made on a big table that could easily fit us all in. I didn't even know what most of the food here were called let alone what they were made of.

"How did you get these ingredients? I thought that the school cafeteria was the only one who had the ingredient to cook. Also these food tastes much better than the ones from the cafeteria," said Miya

"You stole these from the gardening club didn't you," said Tachibana with angry expression.

"We-well there wasn't any other way to get ingredients for the trip. Besides, last time Kanade didn't mind using the vegetables from the gardening club when we caught the master of the river and we lacked the ingredients."

"She gave in because it was you people seemed to be troubled. But unlike her I won't stand for it. Couldn't you have foraged for food today?"

"There are not much to eat out here. Besides the vegetables are supposed to be eaten!"

"If there aren't much to eat out here, how did you get meat?"

"I just hunted down a boar that happened to pass by!"

"See, there are things to eat out here!"

"I said there is a little, not none!

Otonashi and Tachibana kept arguing until Sananko joined in and said "I'm sorry this is my fault for wanting to come here."

"That's right it is your fault!" said Tachibana.

"Hey, that's going a bit too far don't you think?" rest of us cried out.

"It's you people who are in the wrong for stealing from the gardening club!" Then she walked off with her dinner.

"What's her problem. I visited the gardening club before and there was a huge amount of vegetable growing there. There may be enough to even feed the whole school. Otonashi also give that club a good amount of funding despite there is no members in that club," said Akiyoshi.

"Maybe it is special to her somehow," Sanako commented.

"That may be the case, hey Otonashi you know her well right. Do you know why Tachibana was so angry?" I asked.

"No, sadly I only knew her for very short time, so there are lots of things that I don't know about her. I guess I should apologize to her and try to find out about it," said Otonashi as he started to cook something.

"What are you cooking? I thought that you were going to apologize to Tachibana?" I asked.

"I'm going to, but first I'm going to cook her favorite food to relieve the tension. This is the first time I saw her angry, so I'm going to have to get prepared as much as I can before I meet her."

"What is her favorite food?"

"It's Mapo Tofu."

"What?" everyone cried out except for me, Sanako, and Otonashi.

"What's wrong?" Sanako and I asked.

"Don't you know that no one eat that thing, not even the NPCs. That food is one of the menu in the cafeteria and I have tried it. It was so ridiculously hot that I actually fainted from eating just one bite. I'm sure that I was close to walking across the line of life and death when I had fainted. The only person I have seen eating that fireball from hell is Otonashi and even he eats it with a lot of water," said Jun

"What Jun said is true. We all have tried it when Otonashi recommended it to us. From the first bite I felt my tongue dying from dehydration. The after taste is the only thing that makes that thing worth eating, that is if you are still conscious," said Shoichi.

"Well it is true that it is unbelievably hot, but once you get a bit used to it, it is probably the best food you would have eaten in you're whole life," said Otonashi and he quickly went to making Mapo Tofu. During when he was cooking I saw the sauce and smelled it. The instant my nose took in the smell it went numb from the pain, and I quickly covered my nose to protect it before it could take permanent damage.

'Ughhhh, If just smelling it is this painful, I can't even begin to comprehend how painful it would be to eat it!' I though as Otonashi put the final touch to the Mapo Tofu.

"There it's done. Hey Ichiro, Sanako, would you like to try a little?" offered Otonashi.

"Do-Don't you eat that with rice to reduce the hotness?" asked Sanako.

"Tachibana likes it without rice, so would you guys want to try it?"

"I-I'll pass," I said as I denied the offer and Sanako did the same.

"Well then, I'll be going to apologize," said Otonashi and he left.

"Let me come with you," said Sanako. "It is partially my fault for asking you guys to come here for me."

"Don't worry about it. It isn't your fault at all."

"But I would still like to apologize."

"Well if you want to so badly then come with me," said Otonashi and Sanako nodded and followed him to Tachibana. I became curious to see how it would turn out. So I went with them and spied on them from a reasonable distance. Tachibana was sitting on a gigantic tree stump.

"What do you want, pervert," said Tachibana in a calm voice.

"Would you stop calling me that, so far have I done anything to you since we met, to be labeled as one?" replied Otonashi.

"You may have not done anything right now, but I'm sure it is only a matter of time before you pull something."

"Then couldn't you stop calling me that until that event happens?"

"No, this is the only way for me to fight back against you since you sealed away my powers."

"Hahhh, I guess I can't stop you from calling you that. Anyway we came here with some Mafo Tofu as an apology."

"So you are bribing me with food to apologize."

"Would you stop trying to read too much into it. I just cooked it to relieve the tension between us."

"It's the same thing isn't it?"

"Ugh, fine, then I will eat it," said Otonashi. Then instantly the bowl disappeared from his hands and it was lying directly in front of Tachibana.

"I though you didn't want it?" said Otonashi as he smirked.

"I-I just decided to take the bribe and accept your apology. That is all. If you don't have anymore business with me then leave me to eat in peace."

Surprisingly she was eating it with happy expression and didn't seem to be in any kind of pain at all.

"I do have few questions."

"You probably want to know why I was so angry," said Tachibana as she ate the Mafo Tofu. "It isn't that complicated. It is the same reason that you didn't clean out the principal's office."

At this comment Otonashi flinched. Tachibana noticed but still continued.

"The gardening club is a remembrance of my first friends that I had made, when I came in to this world. Just like the principal's office is to you with the members of the SSS."

"I see, that explains a lot. Sorry again for taking the food in the gardening club, without your permission." said Otonashi.

"Yes, me too," said Sanako.

"If you understand then don't do it again."

"I do have one more question that I have been wondering about for couple of days. You seems to be able to recall events that should have happened while you were trapped. Such as you knowing that everyone have moved on. How is that possible?"

"Shouldn't you know how, since you have all the powers that I have."

"No, I can't figure it out."

"It's simple me, other clones, and the original have a mental connection. How do you think we knew where you guys were and the way around the guild when you guys tried to retrieve the original. Thanks to the mental connection we were able to map the guild tunnels very quickly and find you guys. The main purpose of the mental connection is to improve coordination. Since you didn't know that I guess you never applied Harmonics Version One."

"So you can share your thoughts with Harmonics Version One," said Otonashi in realization.

"Yes, I had experienced everything the original did before she made me and after she made me, and right now I somewhat still have a connection with the original."

Then Otonashi froze.

"Wh-What did you say."

"I said that I still have the connection with the original."

"Ho-How? She disappeared from this world, it is impossible for you to have any kind of connection!"

"I don't know either but it seems that we are somehow still connected mentally, but we are not always connected. Also the connection is always very weak when it is connected."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's like being inside of a tunnel and trying to make a call. When you try to make a call inside of a tunnel you can occasionally get a signal and even if it is connected it would be very weak. Right now if the connection is connected, the connect would be so weak that we can barely share the senses we experience. To describe it, it would be like a very foggy dream that you barely remember. Most of the time we just see glimpse of things that each of us see."

"Can you tell me if Kanade is doing well or not," said Otonashi excitedly.

"Yes, I can, but what would I get in return."

"Hmm, how about I modify the bracelet so that you can use the power for 1 hour per day."

"That seems like a good deal. Do that and then I will tell you."

"I don't have any equipment to do that, but can't you wait until the trip is over? I promise you that I will do it."

"Hmm, you do have good record of keeping your promises but you owe me one for this also."

"Fine, then will you tell me now?"

"Don't rush me. Right now you should relax, the original is doing very well. She is happily living on earth with your friend from the SSS at her school, miraculously. Not surprisingly she is the student council president again. Lastly, it seems that there are many male students who have affections for her."

"Wh-What?"

"You heard me. She is quite popular with the students in the school. Especially the male students. They even have some sort of fan club for it."

"H-Hey does she, you know..."

"I will not tell you whether or not she have a boyfriend or not. I purposely told you only this far to irritate you."

"Come on just tell me."

"No, I love the expression of suffering on your face," said Tachibana with a happy expression.

"You're a sadist."

'"You should have expected it since you know how I was programmed when I was created. Also you hould be greatful that I decided to tell you this much."

"I guess, haa, I wish that I could do something about that personallity of yours," said Otonashi and he left the area, followed by Sanako.


	11. The Forest IV

Right now the sky is pitch dark. The only source of light is the camp fire. We gathered around here to share some of the ghost stories that we knew. None of us actually managed to scare each other, until it was Tachibana's turn. Her story was so scary that I'm sure that it guaranteed us a nightmare about it tonight. The scarier part is that she just came up with it on the spot. I wonder just how can she have such a dark mind?

"Well, all of us told all of the ghost stories that we knew and it still isn't late enough for us to sleep. Does anyone have any suggestion about what we should do next," said Otonashi.

"How about we share some of our life story with each other," suggested Miya.

"That sounds interesting," said Atsuko.

"So who is going to share their life story?" I asked.

"The most interesting person to hear from would be Otonashi here," said Akiyoshi as he directed towards Otonashi.

"I don't mind, but most of you know a lot about me already."

"We didn't know that you had that superhuman powers few days ago," commneted Saneatsu.

"That probably is the only thing that I have kept from you guys."

"Excuse me, but is it true that you have superhuman powers?" asked Sanako.

"Now you can see why I don't want to tell people about it. They get curious, they might even, by some chance, figure out how to get that power. Anyway I can't use it now, since I have turned that abilites off for the moment. I'll be able to use it again when we go back to the school."

"Aww, and I would have loved to see that."

"Hey, can't Tachibana use it to show her?" Atsuko asked.

"Do you think that is wise?" Akiyoshi stated.

"Don't worry, I can set it so that the seal would be released for few minutes."

"I thought that you need the equipments?" Tachibana asked.

"I can release it if it is only for a one time use. So will you demonstrate?"

"Sure I wanted to try out the new programs that I have inputted."

Then Otonashi whispered some few words to the bracelet on Tachibana's arm and it beeped.

"There, it is released now. Try to use it."

Then Tachibana nodded and jumped couple stories high and grew wings. She then started to fly around at a blinding speed. Since it was night it was easy to spot her since the wings were glowing white. After a while she came gracefully and the wings disappeared.

"I see that you also made improvements to the wing decoration," said Otonashi

"Wha, are you an angel?" asked Sanako to Tachibana. When she didn't say anything she looked towards all of us.

"We don't know for sure. Although Otonashi and Tachibana said that they aren't, looking at their powers, it is hard to believe that they really are humans, well, I except for Tachibana, she is kind of a half," said Miya.

"I told you guys that the powers that you see have the process as using dirt to create new material."

"Yes, but you guys are the only ones who can use these kinds of power, while anyone can create some inanimate object from dirt," said Saneatsu.

"Hey do you think I can get that power by training somehow?" asked Jun to Otonashi.

"Sorry, but you don't get it from training. You just make it. I won't tell you how for you know what reasons."

"Come on, we have been friends for as long as almost a year. I also want to know what is like to fly around and fly like an angel."

"I can arrange that to happen, but I can only do it when we return to school school."

"Really? Then can all of us use that power?" asked Atsuko.

"But it will only be temporarily and a one time thing, got it."

"Yeah, we got it!" we shouted happily. I was excited to try to use those mysterious powers.

"Now that is over with what should we do now?" Saneatsu suggested.

"How about watching a movie before we go to sleep," Otonashi brought up.

"There's movie here?" I asked.

"I guess you really can't call this a movie, but a recruitment video."

"Recruitment video?"

"It was made before I came here. Just watch it is pretty hilarious."

Otonashi then set up the projector and a white screen. He put in a disk in the projector and the projector started to shine some light and began playing video. The screen showed the image of the school and there was a blue haired guy wearing the same a SSS uniform as Otonashi.

"Hello, my name is useless idi-, HEY! Don't substitute my name for that and put that on the cue card," he said.

"Cut, why did you get off script," said a voice.

"There is no way I'm going to call myself that. Why can't I use my real name."

"Well I thought that there should be some funny parts to this video so I added that in."

"I thought this was an infomercial. Shouldn't this be more serious."

"I thought so too, but then I thought that the ones who are going to watch this video is already feeling depressed so I thought that by making this funnier we should cheer them up and increase our chances of recruiting new members."

"I guess your right, but can't we change the jokes a little."

"Sorry but it is too late for changes. It would be too tiring to modify the script again, so go and say those lines."

"There is no way in hell that I am going to say that about myself. I won't do,"

"Hmm, hey Shiina can you mimic voices. You can great. Now I want you to say these line with his voice. Can you manage that?"

"Ahem, hello, my name is useless idiot, I may be stupid but please bear with me and any attention to these very important information."

"Hey, won't the people know that I haven't said that."

"Don't worry we will edit the video and mute what ever you said."

"Hey! If the newbies watch this I'm sure that they will look at me with their pitiful eyes or look me down upon despite me being their senior."

"There are always sacrifices to be made."

"THERE ARE NO SACRIFICES THAT ARE NEEDED TO BE MADE HERE. IF THERE WAS A NEED IT WOULD BE YOUR JOKES," he shouted.

The video went on for about a hour and a half or two. I have to admit that it was pretty entertaining. There was endless amount of humor. I also got to know how each of the members of SSS was like and their names.

"Hey Otonashi you said that this was created before you came here. Did you watch this when they recruited you?" I asked.

"No, they decided to abandon this project because it was too much work and disagreements as you have seen on the video. So they just decided to leave it unfinished and recruit people the old fashion way, inviting directly. I only found this video after they had left," said Otonashi with a voice with tinge of sadness.

From the video it seems that the SSS of the past was more laxer than the SSS2.

"That was good and all, but I still don't get what the SSS is and what they do," said Sanako. It was pretty understandable she didn't know what they were about. Most of the video was about the members fighting each other and complaining to each other about how the video should be, rather than telling the viewer about themselves.

"You don't really need to know, they have already disappeared from this world. So just think of this video as a humor film," said Akiyoshi

After we cleaned up the video and the white screen back to the wagon we headed out to our tent to sleep and get ready for tomorrow.


	12. The Forest V

The next day I woke up and by body was pretty stiff. I guess it is because I slept on the ground not the bed. I got out of the tent and saw that everyone else was already up.

"Hey, your finally awake," said Miya

"When did you guy woke up?"

"We woke up not too long ago, anyway the breakfast is almost done lets go eat."

At dinner Otonashi asked Sanako, "Hey, what should we do today?"

"I was wondering if there is some place to fish here."

"There is a river not so far from here. We can fish all we want there. In fact lets catch some fish and have it for lunch and dinner."

"Sounds like a good idea," said Jun

So we finished our breakfast and headed out to the river. It wasn't too big or wide, but it decent and was flowing very strongly. In fact it was so strong that I wondered if it was safe to fish here. Otonashi gave out fishing tools for everyone of us to use. He also brought out some lures and baits.

"You really have everything prepared."

"Bringing fishing supplies are a given at camping isn't it."

"I guess. Hey Sanako, do you know how to fish," I asked as I see her failing to tie the lure.

"Well I have read about it but it seems that actually doing it is harder than I thought."

"Here let me show you," I said as I showed her how to do it.

"Thanks," she said and she threw her line to the river. I did the same and started to fish next to her. We caught a lot of fish. It seems that this river is full of them.

"I've never caught this many fish before," I murmured.

"If probably is because not many humans fish here, unlike on earth," said Sanako

"That seems like the case."

Suddenly I noticed that the sky have been getting darker and a bit misty here.

"Hey Otonashi, I think its going to rain soon, shouldn't we start to pack up?"

"Monster stream, no way, he shouldn't be here in this time of year," said Otonashi as a enormous whirlpool started to appear on the center of the river.

"Hey, pervert I'm having a little trouble here!"

We looked towards Tachibana and saw that the fishing pole was bending almost to a breaking point.

"I can't believe that you caught the master of the river again! Is it your destiny to catch that thing?"said Otonashi.

"M-master of the river? What is that?" we asked.

"It's a gigantic fish monster that will lift you up into the air or flush you in to the water and eat you alive! Run to higher ground! And you, let go of the pole and let run!" Shouted Otonashi. Listening to him we ran except for Tachibana.

"I have caught that thing once, I can catch it again."

"You had your powers that time, but now you don't. At this rate you will get swallowed up by the master!"

"Then give my powers back or help me!"

"No time, we should just run! Look! the master is increasing the water level! At this rate you'll be swallowed up! Run to higher ground already!"

"Just help me already!"

"Why are you so stubborn, run all ready!" I said as I ran to her and tried to pull her away.

"No, you don't know how delicious this thing is. It's taste could even rival Mapo Tofu!"

At that statement my mind just went blank for a second.

"Wha, you're trying to get that thing just for that reason!" I regained my train of thoughts and complained.

"You don't have the right to say it until you have tried it. Anyway help me already!"

"Damn it," I said as I pulled her away from the line and tried to carry her to the higher ground.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it looks like, I'm trying to save you!" I said to her as I ran towards to the others. I was able to make it back to higher ground with everyone in time.

"Phew, just in time," I said to myself, as I see the tide of the whirlpool reaching at the place where I was just at.

"Such a precious food ingredient gone," said Tachibana moaned quietly.

"Are you an idiot. You could have been eaten by that thi-" I said as I was interrupted.

"Look out!" shouted Atsuko.

I looked toward the river and there was a huge tidal wave coming at us. I guess that fish monster have created it. Quickly, I hugged the nearest tree as tightly as possible, but I the strength of the water was too strong. I let go of the tree and got swallowed up by the water. When I resurfaced out of the water I saw myself floating away from everyone by the river. I also noticed that Sanako was also pulled into the water. Unfortunately for her it seems that she isn't able to swim at all. I swam to her in order to help her, but suddenly I saw a tall fish fin coming towards us. I swam as fast as I could but I subconsciously knew that there was no way to beat a fish in a swimming contest. As I prepared to get eaten I heard a shot. It seems that Saneatsu have shot the monster with the sniper rifle, I see him holding as I looked back. The gun didn't kill it, but it now it turned around away from us was going after Saneatsu for revenge. I grabbed Sanako. It seems that she fainted by nearly drowning.

"Hey, Ichiro take this," said Otonashi as I see him throwing something at me.

I took it and placed it inside my pocket. There was no time to check what it was right now, since I was holding Sanako. As I floated and tried to locate a place where we could get off the river, the speed of the river's current seemed to be increasing. After few seconds I found out why. There was a waterfall. The bad news is that I can't do anything. Eventually we reached the edge of the waterfall and fell down. When I hit the water I felt great pain and fainted.


	13. The Forest VI

"Hey wake up," said a voice. I couldn't tell who it was until my dizziness went away. The voice belonged to Sanako.

"Hey Sanako, where are we."

"I don't know I fainted when I drowned. I just woke up here few minutes ago."

"I see. The last thing I remember is falling down from a waterfall."

"Ah, it would be that waterfall," she said as she pointed to the waterfall that I fell down from. At the bottom of the waterfall there was a small lake, luckily. If it was more river than who knows how far we would have had been washed down.

"I can't believe that I fell from there and still survived," she said.

"Don't you remember. You can't die in this world."

"Ah, right. Anyway what should we do now. We are in a middle of nowhere."

Suddenly I remembered that Otonashi threw me something when I was being washed down. I pulled the object out of my pocket and saw that I was a flair gun.

"When did you get that?" she asked.

"Otonashi threw it at me while we were being washed down. Anyway we should make a small camp for now. When it is night we can try out the flair gun. We have 3 chances to fire this thing."

"We should make a camp while the sun is still up, wild animals might come, don't you think."

"Yeah, lets do that."

We then started to make camp. Luckily I had Sanako's knowledge of nature. we were able to easily make the camp. Also the fishing supplies also stranded down here, so we were able to fish for food. Now it was night time. I sent out a flair and Sanako was already sleeping since she was tired. I decided to stay awake a little while and look out in case something comes here because during the day, I felt as if something was spying on us. But eventually my drowsiness won and I went to sleep. When I woke up I saw Sanako still sleeping. I used some fish we caught to cook some breakfast. Then there were some sound from the bushes. A wolf showed up from the bushes. I quickly woke Sanako up.

"Hey wake up. There's a wolf here."

"Hmm, what did you say?" she said as she began to slowly wake up.

"I said there is a wolf here. Wake up we might be in trouble," I said as I shook her harder.

"Ahh!" She woke up instantly and she saw the wolf. "This is bad. If there is one than it is likely that there is a whole pack of them. We need to move quickly in to the lake and swim towards somewhere else."

"Got it." I said and we ran towards the lake but another wolf out of no where blocked our path.

"What should we do now?" I asked.

"There is no choice but to wait for the inevitable."

"Isn't there something we can do?"

"No, even if we run there is no way we can out run them."

"We got no other choice anyway, let run," I said and we began to run deep into the forest. The wolves are following us and their number increased to 3 now. They were also quickly catching up to us.

"Damn it, isn't there a way to escape?"

"Ichiro, I can't run anymore. You go a head I'll just slow you down," said Sanako breathing heavily.

"Don't say that. Here," I said as I placed her on my back so that I can carry her.

"Leave me, this will just slow you down even more. Don't worry about me, remember we can't die."

"We may not be able to die, but we can still feel the pain of death. I won't let you go through that. Now hold on," I said as I carried her. But it was as she said my speed dropped considerably and began to get tired more quickly by the additional weight. The wolves were catching up even faster now.

'Damn it, isn't there a way to escape?' I thought. Then images of Otonashi and Tachibana using their powers to do incredible things went through my head. Then I wondered, 'Maybe I can use the same power as they can by calling out the name of the ability. What was one of the abilities again? Ah, if I remember correctly one of the abilities is called overdrive.' Then I shouted "Overdrive!" Then my body began to feel lighter. All the fatigue disappeared like it never existed. My running speed dramatically increased. I was running so fast that I was leaving the wolves in the dust. The timing couldn't have been better. I was just few seconds away from being the wolves' next meal.

"Ichiro, what happened? How are you suddenly able to run so fast! Is it possible for a human to run this fast?" Sanako asked.

"Remember when Tachibana showed her abilities. This is one of them. I thought that by shouting out the name of the abilities I can gain the power of the ability. I seemed to have worked," I answered.

"Then why don't you let me off if I also say the ability name maybe I can use it too and run by myself to lessen your burden," said Sanako

"You don't have to. Right now the ability I used increases my physical strength so right now to me you weigh as much as a feather or even less," I said. I ran and ran until I was sure that I lost them.

"Thank you for carrying me," said Sanako.

"Don't mention it," I replied.

"But what should we do now? We got further away from the others."

"I know. I'll create wings like Otonashi and try to fly and get out of this forest. What was the ability name again? Ah, right, Guard Skill Sonic Wing." after I said this I waited a couple of seconds but I didn't grow any wings. I shouted out couple of times to active it but it didn't seems to be working. "That's strange. I know I got the name right but the ability is not activating even though I said it out loud like overdrive."

"Maybe there are certain conditions to activate it," suggested Sanako.

"I guess. Anyway since I have overdrive I should be able to use superhuman strength, so we can defend ourselves for now." I said.

"I'm going to try to see if I can activate the abilities now. Overdrive!" shouted Sanako and she tried test out if it worked by jumping and running, but she still had her same strength.

"I seems that it doesn't work for you." I said.

"Haa, and I wanted to have super powers too."

"I'm sure you can get it later, anyway we should make camp for the night and we can try to send out a flair when the sky is dark," I said and we set up a camp. Later at night I fired a flair out into the sky, hoping that the others have seen it.

"Hey look," said Sanako pointing to the sky. When I turned to see what she was pointing to my eye widened.

"Wow," I whispered. At the sky there was numerous stars. While I was alive I don't think that I have seen that many stars. If I was to compare the night sky here to the earth's then it would be like comparing a mud to a diamond.

"I didn't think that it was possible to see this many stars in the sky." Sanako said.

"Me too," I agreed. We kept staring at the sky.

"You know, right now I feel happiness that I have never felt before while I was alive. Although we are in a dangerous situation, I had fun being lost in the middle of the forest. It made me get closer to mother nature, which I wasn't able to do in my lifetime. Also thank you again for not leaving me when you had the chance." said Sanako giving me a very beautiful smile. Looking at her I felt my heart miss a beat. Feeling of happiness went throughout my body knowing that I was able to help her fulfill her wish.

"Well, of course I wouldn't abandon you." I said smiling back at her and we kept staring at the sky until it was time for us to turn in for the night.

We decided to sleep in shifts to avoid being eaten by wild animals and I took the first night. There wasn't anything going on during the night except for a gigantic silhouette that went over us. It was very dark and there was little moon light so I couldn't see very well but I noticed that the shadow belonged to a bird of unimaginable size. It was moving so fast that it made a big gust of wind as it pasted by few stories above our head. Then I wondered if this forest was infested by large animals.


	14. The Forest VII

In the morning I went to collect some food as usual. I was insanely tired from lack of sleep. Sanako was, surprisingly, still sleeping. I let her keep sleeping, thinking that she would need all the sleep she can get now, because it would be her turn to watch out at night. I gathered various berries and fruits Sanako show me were edible the other day. As I came back from gathering I saw Sanako already awake.

"Good morning," I said.

"Good morning to you too," Sanako replied.

"Here are some food that I picked up. Here." I offered.

"Thanks," she said as she received the food and then she asked, "What should we do now?"

"I guess we should go back to the lake with the waterfall. Others should be expecting us to be there."

"Do you know how to get there?"

"No, I was hoping that you remembered," I said. When we ran from the wolves I ran everywhere to avoid being captured by them and trying to lose them so there were lots of zigzagging around. Consequently it caused us to lose the way to the lake. "I guess there is no choice but to stay here."

_Rustle Rustle_

"Hmm?" we both mumbled and turned to look at the direction where at the sound of rustling vegetation came from.

"Well well, so there are humans in the forest," said a deep voice.

We were shocked to find a talking wolf and if that wasn't enough it was large as the master of the river. After the appearance of the gigantic wolf the smaller wolves started to surround us in all directions.

"It is very rare to find humans to be this far in the forest. Well at least we have something to eat," said the gigantic wolf as it jumped to eat us. Luckily, thanks to the overdrive ability, I was able to respond quick enough to carry Sanako and dodge the wolf coming at us by jumping high to one of the tree branches.

"Hey Sanako are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm okay," she answered.

"So you guys did have angel player applied to yourselves. I guess my subordinate were telling the truth when they said that you guys were running at the speed that is impossible for a human," said the gigantic wolf.

"Angel Player? What in the world is that?" I asked the wolf.

"Don't play dumb. Just now you used the ability call overdrive to jump to that tree branch," said the wolf.

"How do you know about overdrive and how is this Angel Player and the abilities related?" I kept asking.

"Don't tell me you actually don't know," said the wolf.

"I have absolutely no idea what this Angel Player is," I said with irritated voice. I didn't have much patience by lack of sleep and this conversation going nowhere.

"From your tone of voice it seems that you really don't know. Tell me, is Otonashi still the student council president?" asked the wolf.

"Yes and how do you know him," I asked.

"We have some history together and just now you gave me a reason for me to visit him. Anyway why are you humans doing here. As I have said humans don't come this far into the forest very often. Did Otonashi sent you?" said the wolf.

"No, we got swept away by the master of the river," I said.

"Don't lie. With your overdrive ability, you should be able to beat that weakling you humans call the master of the river with ease. Now tell me the truth or I will eat you up." said the wolf.

"But we aren't lying. We really did get swept up by the master of the river. I didn't know I could use the overdrive ability when that happened." I said.

"Hmm, well although it doesn't seem likely, you don't seem to be lying." said the wolf.

"So will you leave us now? Or better yet, can you take us with you when you visit Otonashi?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes, but before that it have been a long time since I have had a chance to fight someone who is strong. With your ability I should be able to get some work out. So why don't we make a deal. If you beat me I will help you get out of this forest, but if you lose one of you will be eaten up and I will take you back later when you revive yourself." said the wolf.

"And what if I refuse?" I asked.

"Heh, I don't think you have that option. Without my help you may never get out of this forest and be lost in this forest forever. Also, I will be coming after you humans the moment you refuse anyway. Don't think that just by staying on top of the tree branch will prevent me from reaching you, and even if you somehow manages to elude me there are other monsters like me who will gladly eat you up. Besides, you will be going back either way if you agree." replied the wolf.

"I guess there is no other way." I said as I jumped down from the tree branch.

"No, Ichiro there must be another way." Sanako cried out.

"Than give me a suggestion," I shouted and there was a moment of silence. "See there are no more options. This may be the only shot of us being able to escape safely from here and meeting up with the others." I said.

"But, but..."

"Don't worry I won't lose."

"You have confidence unlike many others before you. Most of them decided to refuse and run from me. Of course they were instantly eaten up before they knew what had happened." said the wolf.

"Yeah yeah, stop talking and lets finish this already. I am already in a bad mood by lack of sleep and not have decent meal for a while. In fact I wonder how you would taste." I told him.

"HA ha ha ha," laughed the wolf and it instantly tried to pounce on me. I was able to barely dodge the sudden attack. I tried to counterattack by punching him on the leg with my strengthened arms, but the wolf was able to dodge easily.

"Hey are you being serious here? You should be able to move faster than that and can't that girl use overdrive as well? Or is she too scared to fight?" The wolf asked.

"She can't use it. It seems that only I can use it." I answer back.

"Pity, I was expecting that both of you fight but I guess you are going to have to be enough." said the wolf and he used his claws to attack. I got a minor cut on my arm but it wasn't fatal. I quickly tried to retaliate but I missed again.

"Hold still damn it." I cried out.


	15. The Forest VIII

In the end, I dished out as much as I could but it was no use. He had more combat experience than me and was stronger. I landed a couple hits but it didn't do much. After a few minutes I was pretty beaten and couldn't move anymore.

"Is that it. You gave up from the beginning didn't you." the wolf said. The wolf wasn't tired at all. When you look at him you couldn't tell that he was just in a fight.

"What are you talking about, Ichiro was fighting the best as he could." Sanako argued.

"What do you mean? I have fought with Otonashi before and he was able to move much more faster than that and hit stronger too without even trying." said the wolf.

"But they are two different people." replied Sanako.

"They both are using the same power so he should be strengthened as much as Otonashi. Oh well, I will forgive for this time and not eat either of you since this is our first meeting so consider yourselves lucky. It is mainly because we have abundant hunting season, but next time I won't be as generous." said the wolf.

After a while my body regenerated and I was able to move again without any pain. When I stood up I noticed that all the smaller wolves were gone. The big wolf saw me completely healed he told us to follow him. I got Sanako, who was still on the tree branch, down to the ground and started to follow him. Eventually we reach to the waterfall where we fell from. The wolf was somehow able to jump over the cliff with ease, despite the cliff being around 5 times his height. I tried to jump over but it was impossible even with the overdrive.

"Humans, what are you waiting for. Jump over already." ordered the wolf.

"We can't, it's too high." I told him. Then the wolf jumped down in front of us.

"I guess it can't be helped climb on my back." said the wolf.

"Thank you." we both expressed our gratitude.

"Don't be mistaken. It is only because I pity you two. Normally I would have carried you off in my mouth, unless you prefer that way. Now close your mouth or you may accidentally bit your tongue and hold on tight." said the wolf and we complied. The wolf again easily jumped over and started to run so fast that everything was a blur to me. Then I out of nowhere a silver flash went by out head."

"Uwaa, what in the world was that?" I cried out. Then I heard a familiar voice.

"Stop Tachibana, it's them." shouted Otonashi.

"Well what do you know it is them." said Tachibana.

"H-hey I-Ichiro, S-Sanako, where did you get that huge wolf?" asked the others.

"He- uwaa, umh," we both said as we hit the ground when we were dropped off of the wolf's back.

"Otonashi explain to me why you applied the Angel Player on that human boy without his knowledge." said the wolf.

"Long time no see to you too, and what do you mean that I have applied Angel Player on Ichiro. I never did such thing." said Otonashi.

"Don't lie to me. I have seen that human use the overdrive." said the wolf.

"Impossible, how can Ichiro have overdrive?" wondered Otonashi.

"Ahem, did you forget where you are and who you are in front of." Interrupted Tachibana.

"Ah" said Otonashi as he noticed us. "Hey lets change location first before we go on." said Otonashi to the wolf and they disappeared somewhere into the forest. Then the others began to surround us.

"So you two came back unharmed." said Tachibana.

"Well I wouldn't say unharmed-." I said.

"So what happened to you two in the forest, being lost for about 2 days," interrupted Jun.

Then I explained everything that had happened during the two days that we were lost.

"Wow that is an amazing story. It seems that you guts have had tough time. So Sanako do you feel any lingering emotions to keep you here." asked Miya.

"No, I feel as if a heavy burned is lifted off of me." Sanako said.

"I thought that once someone is relieved of the regret he/she had when they were alive they will disappear." I said.

"That is true, but maybe there is now something else that is keeping her here." said Akiyoshi.

"Eh? What could that be?" I wondered.

"Probably helping you get out of this forest safely." Otonashi said towards me. It seems that he came back few moments ago with Tachibana.

"Otonashi you came back, so what did you guys talk about." I said.

"Sorry, but I'll tell you later, I hope you don't mind." he replied.

"Yeah, I can wait, and Sanako is what Otonashi said true?" I asked.

"Yes that is true. I accomplished what I wanted but I wanted to help Ichiro out before I vanished." said Sanako.

"Well now that I'm safety returned you don't have anything to keep you here right." I said.

"You're right. I think now is the time for me to go. But before I go I'd like to thank everyone, especially Ichiro, for helping me fulfill my dream." said Sanako. Then she moved quickly towards me and kissed me on the lips. It was so sudden and shocking that my mind went blank. When she moved back she said,

"Ichiro, I hope we get the chance to meet again when we reincarnate back to Earth" while smiling at me and she just disappeared.

"Ehh, so you just disappear like that." I said.

"So, what _really_ happened during the time you guys were lost." said Jun.

"No-Nothing, I what I told you just few minutes ago was the entire truth." I said.

"Are you sure that you didn't conveniently leave some detail out." said Miya.

"NO!" I denied.

"Denying that strongly means that something did happen." said Miya.

"You can believe what you want but nothing serious happened between me and Sanako. Anyway Otonashi what happened with the wolf." I said as I changed the topic.

"Ah, wolf went back to the forest. We should be heading back to the school now since our goal is done," said Otonashi and we began to pack the equipment back and headed back towards the school.


End file.
